The Cat that Got the Canary
by Entwinedlove
Summary: One-shot. Part V of My Tender Insides series. / Sam contemplates a bride's vows and makes a new friend. Takes place after "Still Need Shielding."


Written for Marvelously Magical Fanfiction's May Roll-a-Drabble. My rolls were: Sam Wilson, Minerva McGonagall, and soul mates.

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Sam scoffed and took a sip of his drink as he watched the newlyweds make lovey-dovey eyes at each other. After the world at large learned about magic, there had been a lot of parties and gatherings, especially between Minister Granger's—Hermione's—group of friends and the Avengers. It wasn't too surprising. They all ranged in age from mid-thirties to early forties and they'd all been in some way shaped by violence and an overwhelming need to do something about it. The only difference was some of the Avengers had had a choice when the witches and wizards of them didn't really. Sure, they could have run from a war that literally culminated on the steps of their school but they didn't and that made them heroes too.

Sam liked them all. Harry Potter was sassy as fuck, Molly and Ginny gave him proof that it wasn't just Natasha—red-headed women, in general, were tough as nails—and Hannah and Neville Longbottom were sweet and friendly and kept the whole of them warm and well-fed. All that to say he didn't dislike the bride at this shindig but she was someone he hadn't quite figured out yet.

Luna Lovegood Scamander. Well, Luna Stark now, he imagined. He supposed she might hyphenate her name for her twin sons but Luna Scamander-Stark was a tongue-twister waiting to happen. Her sons, Lysander and Lorcan, were small, in that in-between stage between toddler and full-on child, the same age as Tamara's youngest. They were adorable and into everything. At one gathering with all the witches and wizards and their kids—the Weasleys were everywhere—the twins had stumbled into Tony's lab. Instead of freaking out that they might cause damage or hurt themselves, Tony had sat down on the floor with them and started showing them schematics and diagrams for some of his random inventions. They'd looked at him in awe, grabbed hands, and—poof!—created the thing he'd been showing them in an impressive display of 'accidental' magic. Tony'd been in shock but delighted too and started working on examining what they'd made and praising them for it. The next thing Sam knew, Luna and the twins had moved into the Tower and she and Tony had started a strange sort of whirlwind romance that involved flower-draped robots and mechanical automatons of magical creatures.

It'd been about a year since Hermione had first come into their lives and brought magic into the open and now the Tech genius Tony Stark was marrying a widowed witch with kids. Who'd have thought that would have happened? It wasn't their year-long romance or even the enormous publicity of this wedding, no, the one thing in this crazy but elegant mess that had Sam scoffing was the vow Luna had said to Tony.

Soul mates.

It was ridiculous to Sam. He was pretty damn sure there was no such thing as soul mates. He shook his head and muttered under his breath with his next drink, "Soul mates? Really?" He hadn't expected anyone to hear him. He was sitting at a table on the edge of the dance floor watching Luna and Tony and plenty of others dancing. He really hadn't expected the older woman standing nearby to hear his low words.

She turned and looked at him. From her dress, she was obviously on the bride's side of the aisle. She held herself with confidence and grace and the smirk she sent him made the hair on the back of his neck stand up. She joined him and conjured a glass with ice and filled it with the same amber liquid that was in his glass, scotch. She took a healthy swallow and didn't even make a face. He would have been respectful anyway but there was something pleasing to seeing an older woman drink like that.

"You don't believe in soul mates?" She asked, one of her thin eyebrows raising in inquiry. Her Scottish accent was present but not strong.

"No. There are seven billion people on this planet and there's supposedly one single person out there for everybody? Even if there were soul mates there be such a slim possibility of meeting yours. It's crazy."

"I'm not sure I agree with you. Haven't you known someone who—once they found their partner—would never be able to love anyone else? If that person were gone, they'd swear off relationships for the rest of their lives?" She scanned the crowd and tipped her drink towards Steve and Bucky who were standing off to the side of the dance floor talking. The loving looks they shared were a bit sickening. Sam remembered how lonely and sad Steve had been when he met him and how different and _happy_ he was now that Bucky was back in his life.

Sam noticed the woman had returned her attention to him and shrugged. "I guess."

She nodded, sipping her whiskey again. "I've seen soul mates before. You're right, though, they are very rare. I think Luna only included it for the romance of it." She offered him her hand and a smug smile, "Minerva McGonagall."

"Sam Wilson," he shook her hand and because he was tipsy and ready for a subject change he leaned closer and asked, "Is it true you can turn into a cat?"

She laughed, throaty and full; it made him smile. "Asks the man who's called the Falcon. I'm not sure who should be more worried in this situation. Me? Or you?" She winked at him.

At the end of the party when Tony and Luna left in a Stark helicopter for their honeymoon, a pretty tabby cat with markings that made it look like she was wearing glasses led the way back to his room with her head held high like a queen.


End file.
